[WIP] Weapon Addition and Replacement Suite (WARS)

[IneptEuropean]

Those Royal Armouries videos are great. Do you also watch Forgotten Weapons? Much more gun-nerdy but often fascinating stuff.

 

Any chance you could just release an as-is beta of your mod(s)?

[IneptEuropean]

(i.e open beta)

[antistar]

Yes, Forgotten Weapons is a great resource if you're modelling/texturing/animating a weapon covered on there; I've watched a lot of their stuff. In fact, I more or less based the Skorpion animations on the way Ian handles the Skorpion in this video.

 

I'm generally of the opinion that if a mod is ready for open beta, it's ready for release - because functionally there's not really any difference when it comes to mods. So no open beta, sorry.

[CanyonRunner69]

How's it going? Did you watch Ian's latest video, interview with GIGN creator? Made me really think - nowadays it'd seem insane someone would train a counter unit solely on revolvers, there's just something really cool about old school weapon doctrines. While a rifle will obviously be always better as general whole, all the pros of using a revolver (comparing the accuracy to a 'blowgun' of some kind) make for a cool 'believable' balancing opportunity in RPG games lol. Did you ever consider adding some kind of vintage/cold war era tactical equipment to PEACE down the road? Especially since you changed clothing to behave like LBE and whatnot. I'd be a sucker for some Alice webgear lol

[antistar]

I saw that video pop up, but didn't watch it until you mentioned it. I don't watch all Forgotten Weapons videos; there's too many. :laugh:

 

It was pretty interesting. I hadn't heard of him before - or even of GIGN, I think - but based on what he was saying about the aim being to preserve lives (despite what many might assume about counter-terrorism units), he seems like the sort of guy you really want in law enforcement.

 

I'm not sure I quite got what he was saying with the revolver/blow-dart comparison at the end there. Something about the ballistics of using ammo with slow-burning powder in revolvers?

 

Anyway; I've definitely leaned more towards vintage - or at least not ultra-modern tactic-lol - weapons and attachments in WARS. I think it suits the setting more if the weapons are at least not all wrapped in the latest after-market parts and beautified like they're dekotora or something. ;)

 

The M1911 and its attachments are probably the most obvious example, but there's also stuff like using the big and heavy AN/PVS-4 (a 1970s night-vision device) as the night-vision scope across many weapons in WARS.

 

I think Vietnam-War-era LBE would be a great fit for Fallout too. I have to admit that I've got a bunch of reference images of ALICE gear and flak jackets and whatnot that I collected early on after FO4 came out. The hope was that at some point I'd have time to make outfits based on that, but that seems less and less likely as time goes on. Making apparel (to a decent quality, at least) is a huge amount of work.

 

I love what they did with that kind of equipment in Metal Gear Solid 5 - and I believe some of those assets have been ported to FO4, so that's probably a decent solution.

 

 

 

While I'm here...

 

I know I've been quiet for a while. Life has been enthusiastically kicking me in the balls lately. My dad's cancer has been getting worse. The immunotherapy didn't work.

 

There's an experimental treatment trial that he might be eligible for, but getting information even as basic as "is he really definitely eligible for it?" and "when does it start?" - let alone "is there any chance of it actually helping?" - out of the people running it has been like pulling teeth, and that's been the case for months and months.

 

He's on chemo again now... but it's not looking good.

 

 

I'm still working on the mod when I can, though; still making progress.

 

Something I finished up a little while ago was setting up all the robots and turrets in the game to spawn with different ammo sub-types, and be able to switch between those sub-types. Since robots and turrets have "embedded" weapons (so that you can't visibly see when they switch weapons, in short), that was as easy as giving them a separate embedded weapon for each ammo sub-type. Then their AI automatically handles switching to the weapon that has the highest DPS - as long as they have ammo for it - so I don't have to do anything there. No scripts.

 

Unfortunately that involved a lot of very tedious work, so it took a while. Had to be done, though - and now there's the chance to get more valuable ammo sub-types off defeated robots... if you're able to get it off them before they dump it all in your direction. ;)

 

I'm not sure yet if regular NPCs will be able to switch ammo in the same way. That would take scripting of some kind, so it depends on if I can work that out. (Or if isathar can, in TweaksFramework.) If not, it'll probably be the case that they can spawn with different sub-types, but only one sub-type at a time (e.g. only AP, or only FMJ), rather than a mix, like robots/turrets.

 

Oh - speaking of turrets; previously I had it so that you can access the inventory of Workshop turrets - so that you can give them ammo to use - but I've since opened that up to ALL turrets. So now you can theoretically sneak up to a hostile turret and yoink the ammo out of it, neutralising it that way. We'll see how that goes in practice.

 

More recently I've been working on setting up the various projectiles and explosions in WARS, starting with cannonballs for the Swivel Gun/Broadsider. That's been fun, actually. There are five cannonball sub-types, and they're all in-game and working:

 

- Solid: A solid steel ball. Packs a real wallop if you can hit something with it. Can be recovered after firing, but doesn't have propellant at that point, of course.

 

- Canister: Basically a giant buckshot shell. Turns the Swivel Gun into a giant shotgun. (This is similar to grapeshot, if you've heard of that.)

 

- Explosive: A classic fused shell, looking pretty much exactly like you're imagining it. Does impact damage, but bounces off and then explodes after a couple of seconds.

 

- Shrapnel: Like the explosive shell, but it also puts out a shower of lead balls in all directions. (The lead balls have a ballistic arc.)

 

- Carcass: Also like the explosive shell, but it explodes in a cloud of poisonous smoke. (Poison damage over time.)

 

 

I edited the cannonball ammo to actually incorporate propellant, so now they look kind of like this. This meant I needed to edit the reload animation a bit so that they wouldn't clip through the barrel, but that didn't take long.

 

I imagine I'll show this off in a video, but it would be easier to do that once ammo-swapping is implemented. I'm thinking of doing that next - using AmmoTweaks v1, at least for now. Obviously I've been trying to avoid that - doing all the work I can that doesn't rely on AmmoTweaks/TweaksFramework first, to limit the amount of redundant work that would have to be chucked out once TweaksFramework is available. (Not to mention all the work I'd have to do that would be redundant because it's something isathar has already done in TweaksFramework.)

 

It has to happen, though; it can't wait forever. I'll investigate doing the AmmoTweaks v1 integration as an add-on plugin to WARS, so that switching to using TweaksFramework (before or after release) would be easier. Easier for me, I mean, since I wouldn't need to fish all that AmmoTweaks v1 integration out of the main WARS plugin; I'd just disable the add-on plugin.

[Tenurialrope3]

Saddening to hear about your father's situation, my condolences and I hope it will improve.

 

Also, my belated condolences for the loss of your grandmother.

(I should have said this when I read your mention of it months ago, I have to psyche myself up a bit to make a post and I was feeling pretty ill at the time.

I'm sorry if this is a bad time to say it so relatively late after.)

 

Again, my wishes of good health to your family (and you).

 

 

I don't really have anything to comment on the mod currently (the much larger part of your post), for better or worse.

[nexusguy]

Sorry to hear about your father, I hope the experimental treatment helps.

 

Also I hope your the rest of your familly is doing well, please, take the time of the hollidays to enjoy yourself with your familly.

 

I appreciate your monumental determination, most people (including myself) have trouble with discipline, it's astonishing to see how you're able to keep working even going through this, but please, take some time off to rest, cheers brother.

[CanyonRunner69]

I understand your hard situation, I'm not sure how it is over where you live (Australia, was it?) but here medical care is just crazy ever since covid hit, and pretty much anything non-covid related gets treated like a redheaded stepchild (or Fallout: BoS) in comparison to other games, no matter if it's cancer or a broken leg. I hope everything turns out well in the end for your father, never lose hope and try to restrain yourself from any bad thoughts about the medical staff, I know how it is when they answer like that... my grandma had covid and I dropped off some stuff for her since visitations were disallowed, it took them 3 days to bring it upstairs to her... only because I knew someone in the hospital, too. The lack of empathy during those hard times (for us all) is hard to describe I think.

 

I'm well aware of your choices for the weapon attachments and I have to say your 'taste' when it comes to that is def. the biggest reason why I long for the mod, it will simply feel 'right' when compared to the plethora of modern weaponry that's floating around. Had no clue you have a Starlight scope in too, that's amazing, makes me wonder how much of the screen it's gonna take up in first person haha.

 

Yeah we have full permissions to use MGS 5 assets, and that probably extends to MGO which has a TON of that type of stuff by now, so that's def. something to consider - the quality isn't super duper HD either, I believe the poly count is right about the same as Fo4 assets (just not as bad.. aesthetically) so that's definitely something to look into - I always wanted to have i.e some harnesses over vanilla combat armor to make it look more believable, perhaps with some asset 'borrowing' and retexturing that'd be easily possible.

 

I realize the ammo tweaks thing puts you in a bad spot, but I'm glad to hear you're considering using the existing tweak, to be fair it might sound rude but knowing nexus community, once the mod 'picks off' some scripter will probably lend you a hand in case ammo tweaks v2 won't be available still, possibly creating a new framework for the whole mod.

 

Not sure i understand the ammo types for robots - so say a sentry bot shooting at me will fire HP rounds since they'll deal highest dps by game logic, then once he runs dry he'll switch to armor piercing, etc? in that case, it's kinda neat, and it could penalize players for trying to cheese bots and make them waste all ammo, since AP would probably punch harder after the ammo switch.

 

And those cannon balls upgrades sound great - it's really cool to see you care about vanilla content that much to make it more logical. Did you plan doing anything regarding the vanilla artillery? there's a very cool Howitzer replacer on nexus, but there's no anims for it - I reckon making custom anims for it would take eternity, but at least one idle anim where NPCs stand closer to the breech would be good enough aesthetically, probably.

[antistar]

Thanks everyone. :smile:

Also, my belated condolences for the loss of your grandmother.
(I should have said this when I read your mention of it months ago, I have to psyche myself up a bit to make a post and I was feeling pretty ill at the time.
I'm sorry if this is a bad time to say it so relatively late after.)

Don't worry about it; I definitely know that feeling.

Sorry to hear about your father, I hope the experimental treatment helps.

Also I hope your the rest of your familly is doing well, please, take the time of the hollidays to enjoy yourself with your familly.

I appreciate your monumental determination, most people (including myself) have trouble with discipline, it's astonishing to see how you're able to keep working even going through this, but please, take some time off to rest, cheers brother.

Yeah, I'll be going back to my home town for a day or two over Christmas. (Unless there's a sudden lockdown or something.) It's been a while since I've been back.

I'm well aware of your choices for the weapon attachments and I have to say your 'taste' when it comes to that is def. the biggest reason why I long for the mod, it will simply feel 'right' when compared to the plethora of modern weaponry that's floating around. Had no clue you have a Starlight scope in too, that's amazing, makes me wonder how much of the screen it's gonna take up in first person haha.

Yeah, it's... chunky:

- Mossberg 590 17
- USAS-12 18
- AN PVS-4 01
- AN PVS-4 02

I have a soft spot for it.

Not sure i understand the ammo types for robots - so say a sentry bot shooting at me will fire HP rounds since they'll deal highest dps by game logic, then once he runs dry he'll switch to armor piercing, etc? in that case, it's kinda neat, and it could penalize players for trying to cheese bots and make them waste all ammo, since AP would probably punch harder after the ammo switch.

That's basically it, yeah. It could be that the AI factors in things like the increased DR effect on JHP rounds and the DR of the target when evaluating which weapon to use, though. I haven't tested it enough to be able to tell. Isathar also mentioned finding a way for regular NPCs to evaluate that sort of thing (and to switch ammo sub-types if they run out of the one they're using) - but did say that it was a bit temperamental.

And those cannon balls upgrades sound great - it's really cool to see you care about vanilla content that much to make it more logical. Did you plan doing anything regarding the vanilla artillery? there's a very cool Howitzer replacer on nexus, but there's no anims for it - I reckon making custom anims for it would take eternity, but at least one idle anim where NPCs stand closer to the breech would be good enough aesthetically, probably.

WARS is all about trying to make weapons in FO4 make more sense. :wink:

I'm not planning to do anything significant with the Workshop artillery. I might tweak their explosions a bit, along with the other explosion types in the game? E.g. giving them fragments that fly out.

[ryanmaidenfan]

We are all sorry to hear about your dad. :( No one ever wants to deal with a situation like that. My own father has been dealing with stuff himself as well. :( Praying for your dad's well being.